"The State of Israel ... will ensure complete equality of social and political
rights of all its inhabitants irrespective of religion ... it will guarantee freedom
of religion and conscience." - May 1948)

Uri Regev

Latest stories by Uri Regev

A measure submitted earlier this month by the Interior Ministry led by Rabbi Aryeh Deri, head of the ultra-Orthodox Shas party, is a blatant effort to circumvent a March 2016 Supreme Court ruling that allowed those undergoing private Orthodox conversions in Israel to become citizens under the Law of Return.

According to the Pew Research Center's recent report, Israel is among the 11 worst countries in the world for the 'Social Hostilities Index', categorized along with Syria, Nigeria, and Afghanistan as 'Very High'.

We at Hiddush realize that we need to view the concept of freedom beyond simply delivery from slavery, and as we celebrate Passover this year, we are ever motivated to bring Israel more fully into a state of religious freedom and equality.

Last week, months of nomination deliberations for four positions that will soon become vacant on Israel's Supreme Court came to an end. Israel's Minister of Justice, Ayelet Shaked, the token secular representative of the Zionist Orthodox Jewish Home party, chaired the nominations committee.

Last week at a national rabbinic conference, Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef declared that rabbis should warn the Israeli public that in the event of legal disputes, they should take their cases to the rabbinical courts, rather than to Israel's civil courts.

Hiddush has repeatedly challenged the continued monopoly of the Chief Rabbinate and rabbinic courts over matters of personal status of all Jews in Israel. Last week, we saw one of the most shocking and deplorable examples of why this authority should urgently be withdrawn.

Often we are reminded of the outlook at the core of the ultra-Orthodox political parties' actions. While they may appear to share our respect for a democratic society oriented toward civil liberties, the truth is that their motivations are anything but.

This week has been very busy on the legal front of religious freedom & equality in Israel. In many ways, it has been symptomatic of the intensity and diversity of the many issues confronting Israel along the religion-state divide.